The first international review comparing night owls to early risers describes the health risks associated with the preference for darkness.
Most individuals conform to one of two chronotypes: we are either people of the day or of the night. Either we prefer to stay up late and they call us night owls, or we go to bed and get up early and they call us larks. These patterns in circadian preferences are, to some extent, written in our genes.
Over the years, the medical community has debated the health effects associated with each chronotype, and the findings have not always been conclusive.
To shed some light on this issue, a group of scientists from various institutions has conducted the most extensive review of studies to date. Their findings have been published in the journal Advances in Nutrition.
The scientists were especially interested in understanding the relationship between circadian rhythms and eating patterns and overall cardiometabolic health.
Due to the stresses of modern life, eating and sleeping patterns can often be disturbed. Exposure to artificial light sources can also affect our circadian patterns. These disruptions can disrupt cyclical metabolic processes, such as glucose control, lipid metabolism, and blood pressure.
The experts found that people who went to bed later tended to have less healthy eating patterns .
For example, they generally ate later, at less regular times, and consumed more alcohol, sugar, and caffeinated products than those who had gone to bed earlier. Night owls were also more likely to skip breakfast.
In addition, night owls were more inclined to eat fewer vegetables and grains. They also ate less frequently but ate larger meals.
This eating pattern may explain the finding that night owls were at increased risk for heart disease and metabolic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes.
In fact, one study showed that night owls were 2.5 times more likely to have type 2 diabetes than early risers.
Suzana Almoosawi, a researcher at the University of Northumbria in the UK and leader of the work, explains that “In adulthood, being a nocturnal chronotype is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and this may potentially be due to to poor eating behavior and the diet of people with evening chronotype “.
According to the researchers, being a night owl can even affect how a person controls their diabetes: “Our review also found that people who have less control of their diabetes are more likely to be nocturnal,” says Almoosawi.
The review uncovered some other interesting findings. Perhaps not surprisingly, children are much more likely to be early risers, including 90% of 2-year-olds and 58% of 6-year-olds.
As we get older, we are also more likely to revert to childhood time preferences.
Although this type of study is still in the early stages and much more research is needed, the findings to date can have huge implications for public health.
Resume
As children, we are more likely to wake up early, but as we enter society, we have a greater chance of becoming night owls. In old age, as we move away from the push of society, we tend to get up early again and go to bed early as well. Is it the fault of social pressure?
Reference: Chronotype: Implications for Epidemiologic Studies on Chrono-Nutrition and Cardiometabolic Health
Suzana Almoosawi Snieguole Vingeliene Frederic Gachon Trudy Voortman Luigi Palla Jonathan D Johnston Rob Martinus Van Dam Christian Darimont Leonidas G Karagounis
Advances in Nutrition , nmy070, https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmy070
Published: 30 November 2018
